Director David O. Russell explains why he dropped out of the zombie-fied Jane Austen movie, revealing some of what the film's content. An Atonement actress joins The Hobbit, John Noble and Jasika Nicole talk Fringe, plus Torchwood casting news. Spoilers!

Battle: Los Angeles

Neil Brown Jr., who plays a marine in the movie, explains how this movie is different from other alien invasion films:

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[The movie's aliens] are awesome. I was reading a review the other day, about originality. I don't know if there's really an original script any more, but what you can do is have an original take on things. Every story is pretty much a reworking of other stories. But this one, just the way it was done, how gritty it was, how realistic it was – the aliens themselves look very real. They look plausible. They look like 'okay, they could really come down here and take over right now'!

There's some more at the link, including some epic dissing of Skyline. [Shadowlocked]

The interview also gave us this glimpse at a new poster:

The Hobbit

Atonement actress Saorise Ronan has joined the film, according to casting director Ros Hubbard. No word yet on who the 16-year-old thespian is playing, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's Smaug. [The Irish Film & Television News]

Proving that even Peter Jackson's body doesn't want Peter Jackson to make this movie, the director is in the hospital recovering from a perforated ulcer, which is expected to cause a slight delay in filming. [ComingSoon.net]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Director David O. Russell explains why he left the project, dropping some hints about what the film will involve (assuming they haven't since changed):

"I thought at $40 to $50 million was a bargain price to make a "Sherlock Holmes"-style period action romance that happened to have zombies in it. The studio budgeted it as a genre zombie movie and gave me $25 to $28 million. I was like, that's not cool. We have crazy big action sequences in it. It's very commercial; we have a major romance. It's a period film. And we're doing it on the budget that we did "The Fighter?" It made no sense to me. That I found was frustrating."

Jasika Nicole explains how the upcoming 1985 flashback episode follows and expands upon season two's "Peter":

"It's going to pick up right where 'Peter' left off and it's better than the first one. [But] this flashback is going to take place in the alternate universe as well as this universe. That's why it's so good, you'll see the repercussions stealing Peter has for Walter and Walternate. As we've seen, Walternate is still with his wife and there's a reason for that. You see all these consequences that happened as a result of that [abduction] and what that means for his relationship with Elizabeth. It's a really heartbreaking story."

According to the Spotlight casting directory, William Thomas is returning as Gwen Cooper's father Geraint, which he first played in the series two wedding episode "Something Borrowed." He is now listed as a series regular, although it's unclear if that really means Gwen's dad will be in multiple episodes. Her onscreen mother Mary, played by Sharon Morgan, isn't currently listed as appearing. Other newly listed cast members include Lena Kaur as Dr. Alicia Patel, Danny Szam as someone named Surveillance, and Daniel Adegboyega as a guard.

Jane Espensen has revealed she's writing episodes 3, 5, 7 and 8 (which she is co-writing with Ryan Scott), while Russell T. Davies is handling episodes 1 and 10. Doris Egan and John Shiban are writing episodes 2 and 6 respectively, which just leaves 4 and 9 unaccounted for. [Doctor Who News Page]

The Walking Dead

Neil Brown Jr. says "it looks good" that he'll return as Guillermo in season two, although no one knows anything for certain yet. [Shadowlocked]

True Blood

Here's a casting call for episode 6, "I Wish I Was the Moon":

[MAVIS] Female, African American, 20-30 years old. She is a sad-eyed girl dressed in a modest 1930s dress. RECURRING GUEST STAR. Must speak with a Cajun accent.

A few additional roles have been tweeted by the talent agency Sainou. Gerry O'Brien is playing Lord Bracken, and he seems set to show up in episodes 9 and 10. As for some more minor parts, Frank O'Sullivan and Barry John O'Connor are playing members of Night's Watch, Conor Delaney is a Lannister Guardsman in one of the early episodes, and Barrington Cullen is the "Older Knight of the Vale." [Westeros.org]

With Nina pregnant by her boyfriend, George, they're keen to know exactly what might be growing inside her – and whether her forthcoming transformation on the full moon is going to affect it – as the hit drama about supernatural friends continues. Having spotted a young werewolf in the woods, the couple set out to find him to see if he can help them with their questions. They find McNair, who is less than forthcoming with information.

Annie and Mitchell, meanwhile, are finding it difficult to make the transition from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend – especially as Annie is a ghost. Desperate to have a normal relationship with all that it entails, Annie comes up with a plan to get Mitchell hot and bothered in the bedroom. Having been kept isolated from the rest of the world, McNair's son, Tom, is excited by the prospect of more werewolves and goes to find George and Nina. His presence in Honolulu Heights, however, is not welcomed by Mitchell – the "werewolf-shaped bullet" premonition hanging heavy on his mind. Could McNair, with his open hatred of vampires, be Mitchell's ultimate nemesis?

Here's a synopsis for the ultra meta episode 15, which to my great shame I only just now worked out why they called it "The French Mistake":

Dean and Sam find themselves in an alternate reality where everyone believes they are two actors named Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who star in a TV show called Supernatural about two brothers who hunt monsters.

The CW have pushed back Supernatural's mid-season premiere by one week (that and Smallville's, in case anyone cares) to give new viewers another chance to see Vampire Diaries and Nikita. Leaving the wisdom of that decision aside, fans can at least know the decision doesn't really appear to reflect poorly on the more established shows. [EW]

You know, Chloe comes back in this episode, and that's sort of a source of tension between them, because she left in such interesting circumstances. I think there's always a sort of underlying understanding that there's an attraction there, but nothing's played out yet. I hope they do play it out. They have about a half a season left before the series is over, and I just think it's such a great story to tell. So, so far, no, but I'm hoping that I get a call, and they ask me back to tell a little bit of that story.